November 28, 2012 — A fisherman called the whale rescue team at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies Tuesday after he saw the whale entangled in fishing gear just outside of Cape Cod Bay, said Scott Landry, director of the rescue team.
The team’s five members spotted the whale discovered that the whale was free-swimming, meaning it could still move around despite the thick rope tangled tightly around its body, he said.
“It was carrying fishing gear wrapped all around its tail,” Landry said. “It was likely entangled for many months and likely carrying the gear many, many miles. There’s often a big distance between where the whale actually gets entangled and where some random person spots it.”
The whale got wrapped up in the rope when it was younger and smaller, but as it grew, the ropes got tighter and caused deep lacerations, he said. The strong synthetic line wrapped around the whale’s body, preventing it from feeding or behaving normally, Landry said.
“The whale was so injured and unhealthy that it couldn’t raise its flukes,” he said.
To remove the line, Landry and his team first attached a control line and a buoy to make sure they could track the animal if he swam off or dove under the water. The team then attached more buoys until it became difficult for the whale to dive.
“We just want to keep it on the surface and as calm as possible,” he said. “The whale has no idea that we’re trying to help it out and it’s frightened.’’
Keeping their distance from the whale, rescuers used hook-shaped knives at the end of 30-foot poles to cut off the fishing gear. Three snips and the fishing gear dropped from the animal’s body.
Read the full story at the Boston Globe